Doyle/Democrat photo
Dover’s Katie Boyatsis, left, Shannon Goff, center, and Molly Wotton are ready to lead the Green Wave into the 2012-13 season.

DOVER — The Dover High School girls basketball team is out to prove that “young” does not necessarily mean “not competitive.”

The Green Wave feature five sophomores on the varsity roster, but one of those, Katie Boyatsis, led the team in scoring last year as a freshman.

“Hopefully we’ll jell soon,” Boyatsis said. “We’ve all played together before, the five sophomores on the team. So it’s kind of like we’re back together this year, with the older players.”

The Green Wave have already played a pair games so far this year and Boyatsis once again leads the team in scoring with 21 points. While fifth-year head coach Dan Casey said he is looking for a balanced scoring attack this season, there is no question that Boyatsis will be called upon to carry her share of the scoring load for Dover his season.

“She can score and she can find the open person,” Casey said. “I think other teams will key on her, but we have other kids who can step up and knock down shots.”

Last year the Green Wave went 12-8, earned a first-round tournament home game (a 48-35 win over Manchester Central), then went to five-time defending champion Winnacunnet, where they were handed a 54-31 quarterfinal loss.

Dover’s current season started with a 51-33 win at Concord last Friday night. Senior guard/forward and co-captain Shannon Goff was happy with the team’s win but felt the Green Wave had a lackluster performance in the first half. She and junior center and co-captain Molly Wotton rallied the troops at halftime.

“We just came out in the first half not as good as we wanted to be,” said Goff, a forward/guard. “But we definitely picked it up in the second half after our talk. We brought it upon ourselves to stay positive. We were up in the first half but not by enough. We wanted to expand our lead.”

Dover fell to 1-1 on Tuesday with a 62-44 loss to Pinkerton in their home opener, a game they trailed by just four points early in the third period.

Goff said Dover’s youth will be a challenge this season, but not one the Green Wave can’t overcome.

“We’re definitely a young team and we all have to step up,” Goff said. “But they’re doing it. We just have to keep working harder during practice, push ourselves, set goals before games.”

Wotton, the team’s only junior, said she embraces the leadership role, one she relished in leading the Green Wave volleyball team to the state semifinals this past fall.

On the court, however, Wotton said her role is simple.

“Rebound,” she said. “I think my vertical helps a lot. I want to be a threat under the basket. And I have to stay out of foul trouble.”

Casey said Wotton’s natural athletic ability — the all-state volleyball player will attend the University of New Hampshire on a scholarship in 2014 — will help the Green Wave on the basketball court.

“She has athletic gifts that we will try to use to our advantage,” Casey said. “She might encounter some other post players around the state who spend a little more time playing basketball than she does, but makes up for it with her work ethic and her natural athletic ability.”

There were a couple of instances last season when Wotton found herself in foul trouble, something Casey hopes can be avoided as often as possible this year.

“We need her on the floor,” Casey said. “We can’t have her getting into foul trouble. We need her to be a presence on both sides of the floor on the boards. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find another post player who can run the floor with her.”